This invention relates to a surgical staple means for the inducement of the raid and gentle adaption of wound closure. In particular, the invention relates to a staple means with which the tissue layers in question are joined in a suture-like fashion.
Known according to the prior art are conventional technologies in which the tissue margins are artificially brought together (according to the type of tissue or organ) by means of a steel needle guiding a thread in order to achieve firm fixing until healing.
Besides this conventional technology, clipping with metal staples represents a particular way of bringing wound margins together. Thus, a staple technique is known which is based on the principle of "suturing" by means of wire staples. A row of wire staples made from metal is inserted into a special stapler apparatus and positioned at the wound to be joined. The tips of the wire staples are pushed through the tissue by means of a wedge-shaped feed device and shaped by suitable anvil pockets in such a way that the staple legs sink themselves into the tissue. This allows the tissue layers to be joined after the removal of the stapler apparatus from the wound site.
The disadvantage of this stapling technique is that only wire staples made from metal follow the necessary permanent deformation at their free ends, thus guaranteeing the fixation involved.
Also known in the art is a surgical securing system made from resorbable material with which tissue margins of organs or skin are connected for the purpose of healing. This system consists of a strip-shaped base made from a number of interconnected receiving elements, each of the receiving elements having a pair of similar openings. The base is placed in position at the tissue margins and, from the opposite side of the tissue layer, the limbs of U-shaped staples which are pointed at the ends are pressed through the tissue layer into the openings of the base. Because both the openings and the limbs of the staples re designed with corresponding locking elements, an inseparable connection of the securing system results.
The disadvantage of this solution is that the securing system is formed from several individual fastener parts which have to be positioned relative to one another when producing the sound suture, and can be loaded as a magazine only in a very time-consuming manner. This is realized only at great cost by means of suitable staple-inducing devices. Another disadvantage is that an extremely large amount of resorbable material is introduced into the body.